The UFSC Araranguá Campus was created in November 2008 by the Resolution no. 027/CUn/2008. In August 2009, its first undergraduate degree program – Information and Communication Technologies – was inaugurated, meeting the needs of the local labor market. Less than one year later, in March 2010, the second degree program – Energy Engineering – began its activities. In the same year, the completion of the second construction phase of the first UFSC Araranguá building, in Mato Alto neighborhood, increased the physical structure and the perspective for the creation of new programs on campus. The Araranguá Campus development was quick, following the growth of the city. In March 2011, two new undergraduate programs began their activities: Computer Engineering and Physical Therapy.

With the increase in the number of students, faculty and staff, the Mato Alto building could not accommodate the university’s demands. Continuing its expansion plans, UFSC Araranguá rented a building in Jardim das Avenidas, where the undergraduate programs and the administrative units are housed. The university activities are still integrated between the two campus units. Currently, the Mato Alto Building houses the Araranguá Campus’ graduate programs. The first to be created was the Master’s in Information and Communication Technologies, in June 2014. The subsequent investments in graduate education generated three new master’s programs: Physics Education (2014), Energy and Sustainability (2014), and Rehabilitation Sciences (2016).

2018 was an important year for UFSC and the Araranguá community and region. On 3 April 2018, the city anniversary, the Diário Oficial da União published the ordinance no. 239, authorizing the establishment of the Medicine Program at UFSC-Araranguá, consolidating UFSC presence in the region and fulfilling a long-term dream of the citizens from the southern part of the state.

Today, UFSC Araranguá houses the School of Sciences, Technology and Health, with more than 1000 students and offering over 150 direct employment opportunities.